If you did not hear Donna Theodore at the nextStage Theatre on Aug. 25, you missed an amazingly powerful voice with range and nuance worthy of a lesson in voice control for any singer, even at 6,000 feet.

Her stage presence was one of a polished performer who is confident in her glamorous skin when she is chatting intimately with her audience and drawing them in with witty conversation about the next part of her program.

Where were you? Perhaps you thought the program would be just another imitation of Judy Garland. How wrong you were. You missed some great standard songs sung in her own style. She has that in spades. When she sang the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," you could feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Her show was world class, played in our funny little town at the end of the road. Even after vigorous promotion, the audience was small, too small.

So, one has to ask the question. When generous people bring such quality professional talent to our town, why didn't the people come? Tickets were only $35 or reserved at $50. Four big notices in the paper. Who knows?

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